Interview with Ahmet Karamustafaoğlu, Chairman of the Board of Asil Kimya

Asil Kimya's founder and board chairman Ahmet Karamustafaoğlu, marking the company's 30th year in the paints sector, candidly answered our questions about product ranges, R&D activities, distinguishing features that set them apart from competitors, and targets and projects.

Could you briefly tell our readers about yourself, your education and professional background?

I was born in Beylerbeyi, Istanbul in 1958. My childhood and youth also passed in Beylerbeyi. After completing secondary school, I was always involved in commerce. After gaining various experience, I founded Asil Kimya in 1987 and personally entered the business sector.

How long have you been serving the paints sector? Could you outline the development process of your company since its establishment for our readers?

We are celebrating our 30th year in the paints sector. Asil Kimya was founded in 1987. In our early years, we were entirely engaged in supplying paint raw materials. Through important business partnerships established with European firms, we quickly gained recognition. Over the years, we began supplying new products in different sectors and continued to grow on a sector basis. Over the last 10 years, we have set our sights on the Far East market and begun creating our own brands. Currently, our product portfolio includes many companies from Europe, China and Korea. Our customers have been increasingly showing interest in this alternative portfolio of ours as time passes. In the paints sector, we have worked with many companies since our establishment and continue to do so. Within 30 years, we have managed to establish a special bond with our customers. Our philosophy now is always to seek and provide the best service.

Could you tell us about Asil Kimya's vision?

Our vision is to be a global organization that makes a difference in chemical raw material supply. To elaborate; as Asil Kimya, our goal is to undertake initiatives that will represent our country in the best way internationally and achieve healthy growth. To accomplish this, we have set ourselves the goal of remaining the first choice of our customers with pioneering and competitive approaches as we have done so far, and gaining lasting advantages against our competitors. Our philosophy as Asil Kimya is always to seek and provide the best service. As everything changes so rapidly in the world, I believe we need to be flexible and capable of making quick decisions when necessary. As myself and my employees, we meet all new perspectives and new opportunities in products or sectors with great open-mindedness and are not afraid of innovation. Thus, as Asil Kimya, we have created a beautiful synergy born from participatory strength, and this synergy has become an important part of our company culture and decision-making mechanism. We have full confidence that with our employees who share common values and are focused on goals, the values that make us who we are, and our 30 years of experience, we will realize our vision.

Could you provide information about your product groups and the sectors you serve?

As Asil Kimya, we supply nearly all water and solvent-based paint raw materials. To categorize, titanium dioxide, organic-inorganic pigments, additives and agents, cellulose, micronized groups and resins are some of the groups we supply. Besides the paints sector, we serve 14 different sectors such as construction chemicals, plastics, textiles and leather.

Could you tell us about your R&D activities and investments? What are your priority targets in R&D studies?

We have developed ourselves significantly in R&D in recent years and made major strides. Our technical team carries out continuous studies in our fully equipped R&D center in Tuzla. Together with our R&D center and Shanghai supply office we have launched, we are working on many projects. Our work is divided into two sections. First, standardization of the current products we supply. That is, conducting quality control to ensure products maintain the same quality at all times. Our second section involves testing new and alternative products. With the idea of better and newer products, we are always searching for higher quality products in our portfolio. Particularly in recent years, we have developed ourselves significantly in this area. Currently, we are testing new or alternative products every week in our laboratory and continuing our work on more quality and economical products. 42 April - May 2017

How do you determine new products to be added to your product range?

We identify market needs based on reports submitted by our employees. As I mentioned, we have a dynamic structure in this regard and can start a project immediately. Based on our purchasing department's work, we contact our Far East, Europe or other supply points. We can immediately begin work on products in the portfolio of our business partners in Europe. In the Far East, our supply office in Shanghai is very important for accelerating these processes and obtaining more reliable results. After conducting quality control of samples in our R&D center, we make the necessary modifications and bring to market the product most suitable for the market.  

Why do you think companies prefer your firm?

I think the answer to this question is; first and foremost, the trust our customers have in us. For thirty years, there has been a very special bond built on honesty between us and our customers. Second, the breadth of our product portfolio and offering many alternatives. We currently have the widest range of products in the paints sector. Besides this, we can offer our customers different products such as more economical or better quality versions for the same product. Besides quality products, we are pleased with the interest in more economical products that can replace quality products. In terms of improving the quality of these products, with the contributions of our own R&D unit, it is getting better every day, and we can make product modifications according to our customers' wishes. The third reason; our extensive logistics network. Besides Istanbul's Anatolian and European warehouses, our regional offices and warehouses in Ankara, Izmir, Konya and Bursa serve our customers. We can provide immediate service to our customers even in their smallest needs. This is one of our important differences compared to our competitors.

Given that our life resources are currently under threat, the necessity of environmental measures has further increased. What work are you doing in this regard? What are the studies you have conducted for a sustainable future?

We all have responsibilities to leave a cleaner and more livable world for future generations. I believe we are fulfilling our duty in this regard. At Asil Kimya, we operate based on international standards and management systems. We pay attention to entering into cooperation with production centers that use more efficient and new technologies. To prevent environmental impacts such as waste generation, we work together with environmental consultants.

How was the first quarter of 2017 for your company? Could we learn about your targets and projects for 2017?

This year we have aggressively increased our targets. Despite this, thank God everything is going as planned so far. In 2017, our export target is larger than in previous years. In the coming period, we will conduct more comprehensive work in the export area. As every year, in 2017 we will also add new products to our portfolio for paints and other sectors. We are working on many products that are economically more favorable but high in quality. As I mentioned earlier, ensuring standardization of these products is truly difficult work. We are gaining a huge advantage in this regard with our supply office in Shanghai and our employees. Although our market may have had initial prejudice against Far East products, we have conducted studies to eliminate these prejudices. We conduct quality control of all products we import through our supply office before product loading. I believe this investment we have made is an important and exemplary initiative. The products we currently supply are producing optimal solutions for our customers in terms of quality and price. Our goal is to further develop ourselves in this regard and bring customer satisfaction to higher levels.

Do you have a message you would like to convey to the sector?

Although our country is going through a difficult period economically, I believe that this country's potential is very large and at a level to overcome difficulties. If we work more and produce more, if we can focus on high value-added products, if we attach more importance to exports and use technology more effectively, I think we can take our sector and our country's prosperity level to much greater heights.